' Upon which he swore by all the gods, 'That he
had never drunk the most delicious wine, nor the lightest and clearest
water with so much pleasure.
had never drunk the most delicious wine, nor the lightest and clearest
water with so much pleasure.
Byron
M.
erased.
] _He ever had that
order_----. --[MS. M. erased. ]
[20] {72}["When 'the king was almost dying with thirst' . . . the eunuch
Satibarzanes sought every place for water. . . . After much search he found
one of those poor Caunians had about two quarts of bad water in a mean
bottle, and he took it and carried it to the king. After the king had
drawn it all up, the eunuch asked him, 'If he did not find it a
disagreeable beverage?
' Upon which he swore by all the gods, 'That he
had never drunk the most delicious wine, nor the lightest and clearest
water with so much pleasure. I wish only,' continued he, 'that I could
find the man who gave it thee, that I might make him a recompense. In
the mean time I entreat the gods to make him happy and
rich. '"--Plutarch's _Artaxerxes_, Langhorne's translation, 1838, p. 694.
Poetry as well as history repeats itself. Compare the "water green"
which Gunga Din brought, at the risk of his own life, to fill the
wounded soldier's helmet (_Barrack-Room Ballads_, by Rudyard Kipling,
1892, p. 25). Compare, too--
"_Arn. _ 'Tis a scratch. . . .
In the shoulder, not the sword arm--
And that's enough. I am thirsty: would I had
A helm of water! "
_The Deformed Transformed_, part ii sc.
order_----. --[MS. M. erased. ]
[20] {72}["When 'the king was almost dying with thirst' . . . the eunuch
Satibarzanes sought every place for water. . . . After much search he found
one of those poor Caunians had about two quarts of bad water in a mean
bottle, and he took it and carried it to the king. After the king had
drawn it all up, the eunuch asked him, 'If he did not find it a
disagreeable beverage?
' Upon which he swore by all the gods, 'That he
had never drunk the most delicious wine, nor the lightest and clearest
water with so much pleasure. I wish only,' continued he, 'that I could
find the man who gave it thee, that I might make him a recompense. In
the mean time I entreat the gods to make him happy and
rich. '"--Plutarch's _Artaxerxes_, Langhorne's translation, 1838, p. 694.
Poetry as well as history repeats itself. Compare the "water green"
which Gunga Din brought, at the risk of his own life, to fill the
wounded soldier's helmet (_Barrack-Room Ballads_, by Rudyard Kipling,
1892, p. 25). Compare, too--
"_Arn. _ 'Tis a scratch. . . .
In the shoulder, not the sword arm--
And that's enough. I am thirsty: would I had
A helm of water! "
_The Deformed Transformed_, part ii sc.
